X-ray film cabinet



Aug. 19, 1958 w. M. LEWIS X-RAY FILM CABINET Filed May 6. 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG! 5 FIG. .20

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Jrraxuzr United States Patent f 2,848,292 X-RAY FILM CABINET Ward M. Lewis, Forest Lake, Minn. Application May 6, 1955, Serial No. 506,566 2 Claims. (Cl. 312-20) This invention relates to a storage cabinet and more particularly to a cabinet adapted to have X-ray films filed and stored therein. Persons in the medical field, such as doctors, laboratory and X-ray technicians, work with X-ray films and it is a usual practice to retain these films permanently. It would not be unusual for several hundred of said films to be accumulated by any one individual handling the same. Said X-ray films come in a plurality of sizes. It is desirable to have said films filed and stored in a cabinet where the same may be kept for indefinite periods of time and yet may be readily accessible. Said film is preferably kept in a vertical position.

It is an object of this invention to provide a device in which X-ray film may be filed and stored.

It is another object of this invention to provide a device comprising a cabinet of a desirable novel construction being adapted to contain therein X-ray film in a convenient and readily accessible order.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a device comprising a cabinet having dividing members disposed in said cabinet in spaced relation forming compartments, and a member bearing indicia for identifying said compartments.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a device comprising a cabinet generally parallelepiped in form having a plurality of dividing members removably held therein in spaced relation forming compartments therebetween, said dividers being formed of substantially rigid sheet material rectangular in plan having side portions bent toward each other at right angles and having the end portions of said side portions bent inwardly at less than a right angle, whereby when said dividers'are disposed in said cabinet, said last mentioned end portions will be moved under tension to a right angle position for frictionally holding said dividers in position, a strip member extending transversely of said dividing members at one side thereof bearing indicia thereon for identifying said compartments.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a device as set forth in the previous object, said device having a member having a bottom portion and end portions extending upwardly at right angles thereto, said end members having reversely bent end portions whereby said last mentioned member may be disposed in any of said compartments to limit the depth thereof for accommodating X- ray film of length less than the depth of said cabinet whereby the upper ends of X-ray film disposed in said cabinet will lie in a common horizontal plane.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fully set forth in the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. 1 is a view of applicants device taken in front elevation;

Fig. 2 is a view of applicants device in side elevation;

Fig. 3 is a view in horizontal section taken on line 33 of Fig. 1, as indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a view in vertical section taken on line 44 of Fig. l, as indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 5 is a partial view in vertical section similar to Fig. 4 showing a modification;

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective showing a portion of applicants device;

2,848,292 Patented Aug. 19, 1958 Fig. 7'is a broken View in perspective showing a portion of a dividing member;

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 showing a modification of a dividing member;

Fig. 9 is a broken view of a portion of applicants device on an enlarged scale; and

Fig. 10 is a view in horizontal section taken on line 10-10 of Fig. 9.

Referring to the drawings, a cabinet is disclosed comprising a container shown as a member 10. Said container may be variously formed, but is here illustrated as being generally parallelepiped in form having a front side 10a, a rear side 10b, ends and 10d, a bottom 10 and a top portion 10g. Said member 10 may be formed of many suitable materials, but as here disclosed it is preferably formed of a sheet metal material being secured together as by spot welding. Said front 10a is somewhat shorter in length than said rear 10b whereby said ends 100 and 10d respectively have inclined upper edge portions 10h and 10i. A head 10: is formed along the sides and front of said member 10 just below the upper ends thereof. Said member 10g forms a cover hingedly secured to said member 10 by a commonly used piano hinge 11. Said member 10g is provided with a short rear side and a sub-- stantially longer front side whereby when it is in closed position its top will be in a plane at right angles to the plane of a side of said cabinet. The sides and front of said member 10g are formed to overlap the upper ends of the sides and front of said member 10 and will rest on said bead 10i and thereby form a tight seal. A handle 12 is provided secured to the front of said member 10g. Casters 13 are provided for the bottom of said member 10. A trim member 14, such as a chrome strip, is secured about said member 10 at a point adjacent the bottom of said bead 101' at the front of said member 10. Reinforcing strips 15 and 16 are respectively secured longitudinally inwardly of said sides 10b and 10a spaced some distance below .the upper ends thereof. Said strips are here dis closed as being rectangular in vertical cross section and may be secured in position by spot welding or by the use of metal screws. Similar reinforcing strips 17 and 18 are secured inwardly along said sides spaced for some distance upwardly from the bottoms thereof.

Disposed in said member 10 are dividing members 20.

Said members 20 in the embodiment here illustrated are preferably made of a substantially rigid sheet metal material, yet having some degree of resilience. Said members 20 are here disclosed as being generally rectangular in plan having a height substantially equal to the height of said member 10 and having their upper ends inclined in the same manner as said upper ends of portions 100 and 10d. As here illustrated, said members 20 have their side portions-20a bent at right angles to face one another. The end portions 20b of said portions 20a will be bent inwardly at less than a right angle. When said members 20 are disposed in said member 10 one right up against another, said portions 20b will be moved under tension to a right angled position by the adjacent member 20 whereby it is seen that said members 20 will be under some degree of tension and thus will be frictionally held in operating position. Thus said dividing members 20 will form compartments 21. Said members 20 may be formed to form compartments of uniform width, as illustrated in Fig. 3, or to form compartments of various widths whereby different quantities of X-ray film may be accommodated in various of the compartments as desired. Said members 20 will be spaced at their ends from the sides 10a and 10b of member 10 by said rein-' ments 21 as disclosed in said Fig. 3 will each have a uniform depth.

To accommodate X-ray film of different length, a member 23 is provided formed of a strip of sheet material, such as metal, having a central portion 23a of greater width than its end portions 230 and 23d. Said central portion 23a has sides 23?). Said end portions will be turned upwardly at right angles to. form hangers. The upper ends of said hangers 23c and 23d will be reversely bent to form hook portions 232 and 23]. Said hanger 23d will be of shorter length than said hanger 23c. Said member 23 will be positioned in any desired compartment 21. Said hook portions will be hooked over the narrow sides of a divider 20. The shorter of said hooks will be at the front of said cabinet 10, as shown in Fig. 5, whereby portion 23a will form a bottom or rest at a desired depth in said desired compartment. Said member 23 can be made to accommodate X-ray film of different length by adjustment of the length of said hangers.

With reference to Figs. 9 and 10, an indexing member 26 is provided formed of a strip of sheet material having a bottom or depending portion 26:: and an upper inclined portion 26b. Said portion 26b is provided with keepers 26c. Positioned on said portion26b and held by said keepers 26c will be a strip member 28 having indicia thereon, such as letters of the alphabet. Said indicia may be provided variously as by separate tabs, but as here disclosed a strip of flexible material is provided having indicia thereon. Said member 26 will extend the width of said member 10 transversely of said members 20. Depending portion 26a will be disposed or positioned to the rear of said members 20 between their rear end portions, and strip member and will be frictionally held therebetween. Said portion 26b will be positioned just above said members and will be inclined upwardly and rearwardly. The indicia on said member 28 will respectively designate the various compartments 21 formed by said members 20.

Generally the most commonly used X-ray film is of a size 14 by 36 inches. Member 10 as here illustrated is adapted to normally have disposed therein a film of this size. In operation the X-ray film will be identified as by a name or number placed thereon by a tab. Said strip 28 will have indicia thereon forming categories for each of said compartments into which categories said film may be sorted for filing into the respective compartments. If

numbers are used, said member 28 will have numbers thereon in a sequence to identify each of the compartments 21. As here presented, said compartments 21 are approximately an inch in width and each of said compartments may have disposed therein approximately one hundred film. The front upper end portion of the film will be exposed and will be above said dividers 20, as indicated in Fig. 5. Where it is desired to file X-ray film of shorter length, said member 23 will be positioned as previously described in the desired compartment to form a bottom rest of the proper depth, so that all of the film in said cabinet will have their upper ends even in a common horizontal plane. When the member or cover 10g is placed in closed position, said cabinet will be tightly sealed and the film therein may be stored for indefinite periods of time. Said film therein as sorted into categories identified by the indicia on said member 28 are readily and conveniently accessible. The film will be individually identified by tabs within each of said categories.

Referring to Fig. 8, a member 20 is illustrated which is identical in structure to said member 20, except that it is provided with side members 20'a which are of greater width than said side members 20a. Said side members 20'a may be of various widths so that compartments may be formed of any desired width whereby if any group of film in a given category of identification are particularly more numerous, they may all be placed in one compartment.

Thus it is seen that I have provided an easily constructed filing and storage cabinet for X-ray film providing for the filing of said X-ray film so that they are conveniently and readily accessible and may be safely stored for indefinite periods of time. Said device is now being made on a commercial basis and has proved to be very successful in use.

It will of course be understood the various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts, without departing from the scope of applicants invention, which, generally stated, consists in a device capable of carrying out the objects above set forth, in the parts and combinations of parts disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A cabinet for filing X-ray films having in combination, a container generally parallelepiped in form having a top opening in a'plane inclined downwardly and forwardly and a mating cover hinged over said open top, a plurality of fiat members forming dividers adapted to conform to the transverse and vertical dimensions of said container formed of somewhat rigid yet resilient sheet material respectively having their longer side portions bent in the same direction at a right angle, the outer end portions of said bent side portions respectively being bent toward each other somewhat less than a right angle, said dividers being vertically disposed in said container transversely thereof through said open top with adjacent dividers respectively pressing against and moving said last mentioned end portions under tension to right angled positions whereby said dividers are frictionally held in position to form compartments, a substantially narrow member of sheet material having an elongated central portion with spaced upstanding side portions having reversely bent upper ends to be disposed over the sides of one of said dividers to provide a bottom rest at a distance above the bottom of said container to support X-ray film of a height less than the height of said container.

2. A cabinet for filing X-ray films having in combination, a container substantially parallelepiped in form having an open top, a cover hinged to said container adapted to cover said open top, a plurality of removable members of sheet material adapted to conform to the transverse dimension of said container forming dividers, said dividers having the outer end portions of their longer sides reversely curved for some width toward each other, the adjacent portions of said curved ends being in planes somewhat less than degrees from their original positions and being removably disposed through said open top into said container transversely thereof adjacent one another, said dividers being positioned to have the rear side of one divider press against the curved end portions of a divider adjacent thereto to move said ends under tension to a position of 180 degrees from their original position whereby said dividers are held in spaced relation by frictional engagement one with another to form compartments, and a substantially narrow strap member disposed in one of said compartments having a bottom portion substantially the Width of said dividers having upstanding sides and having upwardly extending end portions of a length substantially shorter than the height of said container having reversely bent ends adapted to be disposed over the upper ends of one of said dividers and to be disposed in the compartment formed by said divider to cooperate therewith to provide a bottom support some distance above the bottom of said container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 772,407 Ellett Oct. 18, 1904 786,176 Adams Mar. 28, 1905 1,394,133 Zimmerman Oct. 18, 1921 1,418,324 OConnor June 6, 1922 1,441,633 Ringler Jan. 9, 1923 2,133,770 McGlohon Oct. 18, 1938 2,321,794 Braun June 15, 1943 2,615,772 Bradley Oct. 28, 1952 2,706,576 Thon Apr. 19, 1955 

